Chap. VI. THE COUNTY OF FIFE. 



the advantages are now seen and acknowledged; 

 and the spirit of inclosing, hitherto so feeble, and 

 so limited, is now beginning to operate with 

 rapidity and effect. 



Wherever inclosing has taken place, the be- 

 neficial consequences have been evidently great, 

 The soil has been warmed and meliorated by 

 the shelter which the fences aiford, and by the 

 aid, which the ditches give, in draining off the 

 superfluous moisture. If under the plough, the 

 crops are more luxuriant, and the quality of 

 the grain superior. If in pasture, the tattle, 

 feeding at ease and under shelter, thrive much 

 better, than when exposed to the storm in the 

 open fields, or hunted and driven about by the 

 dog of a capricious keeper. The value of land 

 being thus enhanced, a corresponding rise of 

 rent has been the consequence. 



It must be confessed, indeed, that the extra- 

 ordinary increase of rent which land has brought 

 for some years past, must, in part, be attributed 

 to the general prosperity of the country, in re- 

 spect to trade and manufactures, as well as to 

 the improved state of agriculture. For it will 

 be found, that good openfield land, or land im- 

 perfectly inclosed, and treated or laboured as 

 openfield, has advanced nearly in the same pro- 

 portion. But though this be true, it cannot be 

 denied, that the effect of inclosing, in promoting 

 this rise of rent, has been considerable ; especially 

 where the land is naturally cold and wet, and 

 consequently incapable of much improvement: 

 whilst in an open, unsheltered state. 



The size and form of inclosures cannot be 

 subjected to any general rule. These must 



